Pidcock 1

Danielle Pidcock

Mrs. T

English 1010

29 October 2018

Why Women Are No Longer Wives

“​The range of occupations women workers hold has also expanded, with women making

notable gains in professional and managerial occupations” (Dewolf, Mark 3)​. Since 1701,

women have been overcoming stereotypes and achieving equal rights. The hardest place for

women to achieve their rights was in workplace, and 271 years later it was still a problem. In

1972, ​Ms. magazine ​printed Judy Brady’s article, “Why I Want A Wife”. Brady, a wife herself,

wanted to show men and women what it is like being a wife through men’s eyes. The article

targeted men; by uncovering their heinous expectations of wives. It also targeted women

convincing them to no longer be willing to do the deemed normal. It exposed what was going on

with women in America. 18 years later the same magazine reprinted the same article, “Why I

[Still] Want A Wife”, because there was no difference in men and women in 1990. As men were

stuck on the perfect idea of a wife, Brady, along with other women, saw a need to change the

image of a wife and shape the idea of a woman’s duties. Brady’s Article is effective through her

use of syntax/ poetic language, frank details, and pathos.

Brady uses repetitive sentence structure to reach her audience. “I want a wife” (Brady 1)

is said about 31 times in this article. These four words are used at the beginning of each sentence

before giving another argument. The structure of always having this phrase first forms the article

into a big poem making the article flow better than a story, but also brings out the main point in
 Pidcock 2

the article. When reading, people no longer see these as just four words but a selfish phrase.

Brady used “I” to show men’s thinking process is only about themselves while belittling women.

Whereas, Brady could have changed it up to “they” or “people”. The word “I” does this because

it is first person, only talking about them and no one else. Brady then decided to use the word

“want” in the phrase. The word “want” is used when people desire the possession of something.

Using this repetitive in the article influences the readers. It portrays the dehumanization social

standings being put on wives; making it seem like wives were an object people wanted to buy at

a market. With one imperfection she would no longer be wanted, all the while never caring about

a woman's wants. The next word, “a”, that Brady uses is meant for when people refer to

someone or something for the first time. This brings out the idea that a wife does not need to be

known for her personality, but just the title of “wife” and nothing beyond that. Moving into the

last word, “wife”. In the article Brady never uses the word “she” or any other term referring to a

women. This brings out the separation of a wife being a companion in a relationship, but makes

the word “wife” sound like a job title. These four words put together make a wife no longer

sound like a person, but a slave to these social standards. Using this exact phrase over and over

makes it stand out. Having it be the start of another impertinent expectation connects it to a

distasteful emotion causing readers to resent it and wonder why they “want a wife”. This is

effective because it keeps readers in line with the articles purpose and connects this phrase with

it. It also gives readers keywords to trigger their memory. The article was printed to change

men’s thinking and womens inclination, and now when the audience hears those words they will

go back to the article’s message and consciously think about changing.

 Pidcock 3

Brady uses details in her article to make her points strait to the point. The first is not

giving to much sensory details, but straight to the point of the expectations of wives roles during

the 1970’s. For example, “I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up

after my children, a wife who will pick up after me” (Brady 4). The detail in this sentence,

structured like all the other ones, states an expectation to then be followed by an example of how

to execute the standard. Brady never puts more detail than what was shown in the example. By

doing this she is making the article seem almost like a job description bringing out the absurd

calculations men and society make about wives. Keeping it frank, with very little descriptions,

gives the article a void of emotion. This makes the audience and readers take each phrase more

serious and keeping it open for their own emotion. This makes the purpose clear to her audience

with minimal distractions of fluff descriptions.

The second way the author uses detail is in her word choice. In many instances she chose

words that depreciate a women and what they do. Some words Brady chose are must, tolerate,

bother, rambling complaints, serve, and suitable. Words like these hold no sway in the recipients

choices while showing annoyance with anyone who tries to have a say. Words like must, serve,

tolerate, and suitable give the image of what must be done without question. While words like

bother and complaints, show irritation. The author uses the first set of words because it sets an

extreme example of how wives are given a standard that should never lower or change. This

provokes the audience by making them less willing to help when it is not recognized. The second

set of words was chosen for the stubbornness the first set of words would cause. With the

connotation of “whoever retaliates is not wanted” or annoyed, will make women more mad at the
 Pidcock 4

idea of their settled caliber none of them agreed to. This also makes men see the bar they have

set, and makes them feel arrogant for not realizing it before hand.

Brady then uses pathos to finalize her point. Her article was written to change the way

society thought about wives. Whether that be by changing men’s ideas of a wife or women's

inclination to do what is willed of her. Brady’s article does not just say how wives are viewed

but gives examples of situations. She takes things that hold meaning to everyone and omits them

of emotion causing the audience to miss it. This then makes them replace it with anger for the

degrading things the article implies. The author gave men no emotion toward women and how

they are feeling. For example Brady states, “I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention

when I am not in the mood for it” (Brady 7). By doing this, Brady is not using empathy but using

anger as the emotion. Her target is anger for the purpose of this article is the best emotion to

pick. If her audience felt empathy for wives nothing would have changed the way she wanted it

to. Anger gets people to do things because it is a strong enough emotion to change a mind set.

Brady also eases people into this emotion. With an emotion as big as anger if Brady started out

fully, the readers would not trust the author and no real emotion would surface. In the beginning

of her article Brady says things that people would expect, things that are not sensitive to the

nature of a marriage. As the article moves on each paragraph get worse, degrading things that

people share with someone they love. Brady abates the anger into the article so that her audience

does not see the emotion, but at the end feels it without realizing it. The second to last paragraph

seals the anger with telling them they are expendable. Brady uses pathos effectively by saying

things that go against human nature and make women feel trapped. These feelings would start

getting people to really think about the problem and want to change it.
 Pidcock 5

In conclusion Brady uses repetitive phrases, details, and emotion to have her point across

to her audience. She took the expectations men and society had for wives and showed people

what was wrong with it. Each of these were effective and hit her audience with full force. With

her article being published in one of the most powerful countries that focuses on becoming more

powerful, so does her audience. With their country, American men and women look for ways to

become independent and stronger. Brady’s repetitiveness showed them the way to do just that,

and what was wrong with the deemed normal. Her word choice and void of emotion makes the

audience want to fight back and change along with the revolutionized country. Her audience did

not change within 1972-1990, but since then women have come far from being the “wife”. Now

when Brady asks, “Why do I want a wife” (Brady 2) people are going to look for an equal

companion and not a slave.

 Pidcock 6

Work Cited

Brady, Judy, “Why I Want a Wife.” 75 ​Readings: An Anthology. 1​ 0th edition, ed. Santi Buscemi,

Charlotte Smith. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007, 374-376. Print.

DeWolf, Mark. “12 Stats About Working Women.” ​12 Stats About Working Women | U.S.

Department of Labor Blog,​ N.P.Web, blog.dol.gov/2017/03/01/12-

stats-about-working-women.